Indian women hockey team played the match of the tournament to defeat Olympic Champion and World no.2 England in the group encounter of Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast, Australia.
After losing their first match to lower ranked Wales by 2-3, India came back well to defeat Malaysia by 4-1 in the second rubber and this win over the superior England put India on the second position of the pool A and look set to qualify for the semi-finals.
The win is also special for the team as India has only defeated England twice in the history and both victories came in Commonwealth Games, first time in Manchester Commonwealth Games where the Indian women's hockey team won Gold medal and the second win came today.
England drew the first blood when skipper Alexandra Danson (1st minute) scored in the opening minute to put her team ahead right at the start. India try to make more chances in England's half but failed to convert any into the goal.
Finally India scored the equaliser when Rani created an excellent move before picking out Navneet, who put the ball into the England's goalpost in the 42nd minute to draw the things level by 1-1.
Despite the pressure, the Indian defenders did well to keep the English forwards at bay with some decent organisation and tight marking.
The Indian tried to hit back with the counter-attacks and finally got a penalty stroke with the help of Rani Rampal and Gurjit made no mistake to put India forward by 2-1 in the crucial group encounter of the CWG 2018.
Also read | CWG 2018: Vikas Thakur wins bronze medal in men’s 94kg weightlifting
England tried to put some extra pressure on the Indian defence by taking off their goal-keeper but the team failed to covert any of the chances and eventually lost to India by 1-2.
Indian team will now take on South-Africa on 10th April for a place in semi-finals of the 2018 Commonwealth games.